


To Take Care

by 1Zukoneedsafamily2



Series: 2020 Birthdays! [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Hot Cocoa for the Soul, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23632081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1Zukoneedsafamily2/pseuds/1Zukoneedsafamily2
Summary: Zuko isn't having a good day after The Jet incident.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: 2020 Birthdays! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822996
Comments: 10
Kudos: 143





	To Take Care

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Haicrescendo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haicrescendo/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Field And A River](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23464597) by [Haicrescendo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haicrescendo/pseuds/Haicrescendo). 



> Thanks to WolfeyedWitch and Flameo Hotman for betaing this! Could have never done it with out you two.
> 
> Happy early birthday Haicresendo!

Sokka had just come into the kitchen of Zuko and Iroh’s home. He had received a voicemail from Iroh to come to check on Zuko after the fight with Jet yesterday. He goes up the stairs to Zuko's room and sees him curled up with his Typhlosion. Sokka sighs and comes up by his bedside. Sokka takes the hand that isn’t petting Typhlosion and squeezes it softly. He barely feels Zuko’s hand squeezing back. He sits on the edge of the bed still holding Zuko’s hand. 

Sokka gently strokes his thumb across Zuko’s inner wrist before locating Zuko’s face in the mess of blankets, pokemon fur, and hair. 

¨Hey buddy, how’re you doing?¨ Sokka smiles softly and Zuko just hides his face in the fur again. Sokka sighs and lets go of the hand. Zuko reaches out for Sokka, who blinks in surprise. ¨It’s okay; I’m gonna come back.”

Zuko doesn’t say anything, just stares at him still holding onto Sokka’s hand. Sokka frowns for a minute, thinking. He grins as he thinks of the best idea. ¨I want you to squeeze my hand once for no and twice for yes, okay?” Zuko squeezes his hand twice. “Do you want hot cocoa?” Two more squeezes. “I’ll be right back.”

Sokka roots around in Zuko's kitchen. He hums softly as he gets together the instant hot cocoa packets and makes the cocoa. He brings it into Zuko's room when he’s done. Sokka sits on the edge of Zuko’s bed holding the hot cocoa. Zuko looked like he was expecting Sokka to just hand him the hot cocoa when he was laying down. 

He puts his hot cocoa down and holds Zuko's hand. "Hey man, you need to sit up. You can't drink like that. You'll burn yourself." 

Zuko frowns and squeezes once. Sokka frowns back and puts down the other hot cocoa. 

"Zuko. That's not how this works. You can't drink laying down." Sokka forces Zuko to sit up and then hands him the hot cocoa. Zuko still looks pouty, but it's ineffective on Sokka. 

Sokka moves to sit next to Zuko. Typhlosion wiggles its way into Sokka's lap, aggressively nudging his hand. He pets her head and sips his hot cocoa. 

Zuko's free hand is rubbing Typhlosion's belly as he finishes his hot cocoa. Once done he leans across Sokka to put his cup on the nightstand and slumps like that laying in Sokka’s lap. 

Sokka threads his fingers through Zuko’s hair and the other boy melts into his lap. They sit like that for a few minutes while Sokka hums a lullaby that his mother used to sing for him. He shifts them to be lying side by side. He keeps playing with his hair. He wasn’t trying to put Zuko to sleep but that's just what happens. Sokka pulls him closer and feels his eyes drift shut. 

The sun was just starting to set, when Sokka wakes up, casting the room into an orange haze. He looks down at Zuko’s silk soft hair splayed across his shoulders and starts absentmindedly playing with it again. 

Zuko’s face lifts from where it was resting against Sokka’s chest. He blinks slowly, and the gold of his eyes seems to almost glow in the orange haze.

Sokka squeaks softly when Zuko stretches and yawns “What time is it?”

Sokka grabs his phone from his pocket and looks at the time. “7:30. Are you hungry?”

Zuko nods and climbs over Sokka. Sokka quickly follows behind him. He sits at the kitchen table and watches Zuko gather ingredients. 

“What ya making?” Sokka gets up to look at the ingredients. 

Zuko had already put on a pot of boiling water with rice. He lays out the vegetables. He starts chopping up the red and yellow peppers. “Curry.”

Sokka leans against the counter. “So what caused you to go all silent like that?”

Zuko firmly does not look at him. He keeps chopping the peppers. “Well, thinking about Jet led to me thinking about Ozai.”

Sokka frowns trying to connect the dots. 

Zuko quickly follows that sentence with a better explanation. “Well, I ended up at Ozai and how he treated me just as terribly as he treated his pokemon. And I was thinking about Azula and how she treated her pokemon. How she treated them and why she treated her pokemon that way. I thought about how I had tackled Flareon into the water. How I’m just as bad as Azula was to him. I thought first about how Jet treated his pokemon so nicely.”

Sokka feels completely heartbroken. He can’t let him continue to even entertain the idea even in a small sense.

Sokka makes Zuko put down the knife and pulls him into a hug. He holds him tight and Zuko tenses up a little bit. Sokka pushes him away but still keeps a grip on his shoulders. “Zuko, You could never be compared to your dad and your sister’s cruelty. Yeah, you hurt Flareon but you had to protect me, Jet, and his pokemon. Most importantly. You had to protect yourself.”

Zuko’s eyes widen and his mouth opens in slight shock.

The sound of water boiling over reaches them. Sokka turns around and swears. He quickly turns down the heat of the burner. He stirs the rice and the water levels until it is no longer boiling over. They make the curry in silence after that. It isn’t an awkward silence, and they work like a well-oiled machine. 

Zuko serves their plates and Sokka sets the table.

Zuko brings out the plates and sets them on the table. Sokka sits down across from Zuko. They eat quietly and Sokka looks up to see Zuko staring at him smiling softly. Sokka feels his face heat up a little and smiles back.


End file.
